According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, above, to the Guardian newspaper,… more

Bloomberg

Microsoft collaborated closely with the National Security Agency and FBI to circumvent its own encryption technology, according to documents leaked to Guardian reporter Glenn Greenwald by whistleblower Edward Snowden.

In a story posted on Thursday, Greenwald and other Guardian reporters wrote that the files Snowden provided them show Microsoft helped the NSA get around encryption software designed to protect customers' privacy. That meant the government could read web chats and email on Outlook.com and Hotmail, and that Microsoft gave the FBI’s controversial Prism system access to SkyDrive, its cloud storage service.

According to documents leaked by Edward Snowden, above, to the Guardian newspaper,… more

Bloomberg

The Guardian also reported that Microsoft has given those same agencies the ability to collect video conversations conducted over Skype.

The report outlines extensive collaboration between Microsoft and federal intelligence agencies to collect unencrypted data without having to make "special requests" through the NSA's highly specialized communication monitoring division. Essentially, the documents reportedly show Microsoft making it easier for government spies to access its customers' data.

Microsoft insists in statements to the Guardian that it only responds to specific requests and does not grant sweeping access to its systems.

In the past, Microsoft and other tech companies, including Google, Apple and Facebook, have all denied knowledge of the Prism program and have insisted – loudly and in public – that they have not created “back doors” into their systems that the authorities can access whenever they like. Rather, the companies insist they respond to the secret FISA court’s orders when they receive them. Nothing else.

Microsoft doubled down on that sentiment today, sending a statement to the Guardian that the company only hands over its customers’ data “in response to government demands” and that it only complies with “orders for requests about specific accounts or identifiers.” (Read the full statement below.)

Microsoft has not responded to a request to elaborate.

In a blog post June 14, Microsoft Vice President and Deputy General Counsel John Frank wrote that for the six months ending Dec. 31, Microsoft received 6,000 to 7,000 criminal and national security warrants, subpoenas and orders for government to access approximately 32,000 consumer accounts.

Snowden suggested in a recent Q&A with the Guardian that these big, powerful tech companies should be fighting for their customers’ rights to privacy, even if that means pushing back against the government.

“What do you think the government would do? Shut them down?” he asked rhetorically.

Microsoft's full statement in response to the Guardian story:

“We have clear principles which guide the response across our entire company to government demands for customer information for both law enforcement and national security issues. First, we take our commitments to our customers and to compliance with applicable law very seriously, so we provide customer data only in response to legal processes. Second, our compliance team examines all demands very closely, and we reject them if we believe they aren’t valid. Third, we only ever comply with orders about specific accounts or identifiers, and we would not respond to the kind of blanket orders discussed in the press over the past few weeks, as the volumes documented in our most recent disclosure clearly illustrate . To be clear, Microsoft does not provide any government with blanket or direct access to SkyDrive, Outlook.com, Skype or any Microsoft product. Finally when we upgrade or update products legal obligations may in some circumstances require that we maintain the ability to provide information in response to a law enforcement or national security request. There are aspects of this debate that we wish we were able to discuss more freely. That’s why we’ve argued for additional transparency that would help everyone understand and debate these important issues.”

Emily Parkhurst is editor in chief of the Puget Sound Business Journal.